MalayMail-Mar 22
Parti Warisan Sabah and Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) are among the newer parties that have vowed to move on beyond ethno-religious issues, but political analysts were skeptical that the playing field will change much. Speaking to Malay Mail, the analysts polled said the issues of race and religion will likely remain center-stage in the run up to the 15th general election (GE15) and may even stay in Malaysian politics beyond then. “If you trace back since the 1960s, race and religion have always been the issue,” said senior fellow with the National Professors Council, Jeniri Amir. He pointed to legacy political parties that were formed to represent a specific ethnic group or dominated by one, such as Barisan Nasional components: Malay nationalist party Umno, ethnic Chinese-majority MCA and ethnic Indian-majority MIC. Even Umno’s on-off archrival PAS is an Islamist party that remains largely Malay despite its non-Malay wing. Most recently, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia that aimed to replace Umno also touted its Bumiputera identity as its main cornerstone. In a survey last month, human rights group Pusat Komas found that the topics of race and religion made up a huge percentage of the three main coalition’s communication strategies during the Melaka polls last November.
In its research, it found that Barisan Nasional (BN) ranked the highest on the topic of race — particularly in terms of race-based policies — where it pushed the narrative of Bumiputera rights and privileges and the need to uphold the national language. Read more at: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2022/03/22/despite-birth-of-new-parties-pundits-remain-sceptical-that-malaysia-will-mo/2048738
